Sailing Ropes

Ropes are the muscles of a yacht, without them almost no maneuvring could be possible. It is very important for a person who wants to go to sea to know how to handle them, how to make the basic knots, which type of rope to choose...
All ropes that are being used in the XXI-st century for sailing have a synthetic fibre base and are supplied in various diameters, depending on their task.
There are 4 principal applications:

General Purpose - These include narrow diametre lines for uses such as outboard starter, whipping twine, leech lines.
Sheets - these need to be easily handled, soft for the hands, flexible and non-kinking. Their diametre range from 10-16 mm. Recently colour coding was intrudiced to ease the differentiating between main sail, jib, spinnaker ropes.
Halyards and controls - These need the best possible strength-to-weight ratio with a minimum stretch. They should be easily coiled; diameter: from 8 mm upwards.
Anchoring lines - they must be soft and flexible (especially to the hands). When choosing brands, you should have in mind good abrasion and suitability for splicing.

Rope Care.
This is a very important issue. Probably you are convinced already that each and every part of the vessel is important for the role it performs, and needs to work on full capacity at all times. Since ropes are so vitally important, you have to know these tips:

Ensure ropes are correctly sized. If the rope is too big, you can decrease it, but mind that there is a special procedure for doing that, you must not just cut it and leave it like that. Most of the times it is advisable that you don't cut it, but decrease the size with a knot. You never know when a longer rope will be necessary.
Make regular checks of the ropes along their whole length.
Beware of sharp edges on blocks, cheats, winches and other hardware.
Ropes should be periodically washed with mild soap to prevent the effects of the salt crystals.
damaged rope must be completely replaced - no compromise about that! Where possible, you can cut out the broken part and splice the place with a new section.

Rope safety: Beware of rope burn. Never let a rope run quickly through an unprotected hand. Any rope with a synthetic concent is potentially dangerous; the cheap kind of colourful nylon rope that fishermen use is the most dangerous of all. If a rope wants to run, take turn round the hand - in a special way (ask a more experienced person to show you the move), or just let go of the rope.
It is always much better to handle it with gloves.
If you wear glasses, put them on a string, or secure them in some way, because the rope may flick them out of your face. Do not sit or step on a rope.

The rope clutch - also called spin lock - is a unique and extremely useful holding system that has entered all types of sailing - from racing to cruising for pleasure. Rope clutches are particularly handy for halyards and control lines.
The clutch is a mechanical device and you must make sure it wors properly on a regular basis. Flushing with fresh water will prevent the accumulation of corrosive salt. Teflon lubricant from time to time will decrease pressure.